Lentswe, Stilfontein - An indication of how financially beleaguered/ incapacitated the NW health department is, is that, between April 2024 and March this year, it settled eleven medico legal cases against it, for R80,35 million. These are among 414 medical malpractice and negligence/wrongful death claims the province is currently assessing.
Lehari, admitted to the legislature on April 9 this year, “with the ongoing budget cuts, there is simply not enough money to cater for both services and medico-legal claims simultaneously”.
He said the department was not currently working with any legal or insurance bodies to manage and mitigate the financial risks.
Botha says Duff Scott Hospital would drain patients from 60km radius, including Klerksdorp, Orkney, Stilfontein and Hartbeesfontein, as it has done previously. A new medical school is due to open in Potchefstroom in 2028.
An estimated 850 post-community service doctors nationally are currently without jobs.
Over half a dozen former officials of the Northwest Health Department have been arrested in connection with corruption scandals involving fraud and tender irregularities amounting to hundreds of millions of rands, dating back to 2008.
The officials, including some former heads of department, first appeared in court last year.
Burrell summed up the situation; “despite Duff Scott Hospital being (potentially) fully operational during business hours and offering critical healthcare services in Stilfontein, the Department’s failure to provide a valid license for over a decade has crippled the ability to serve the community to its full potential, particularly in becoming a 24/7 healthcare facility. In 2014, the Department failed to issue a copy of the original license, a misstep that led to over R80 million in infrastructure losses due to theft, vandalism, and decay by illegal miners.”
She adds: “In August 2024, an inspection team conducted a de facto inspection, followed by the official one two days later, yet handed the hospital a new compliance inspection tool that the hospital was expected to fulfil within twelve working hours.
“The hospital was transparent about its inability to meet these new compliance requirements without access to funding, which, ironically, depends on having a current license.
“In my view it was to create a systemic trap.”
